This application relates to vacuum cleaners. More particularly, this application relates to canister vacuum cleaners that are pulled along the ground by a hose and have a suction port and an exhaust port.
Canister vacuum cleaners typically have an elongated casing that houses a motor, a blower powered by the motor to create suction, and a receptacle to capture and store dirt drawn into the vacuum cleaner. The dirt is sucked in with air through a suction opening. Typically, a hose is attached to the opening and is directed to the areas to be cleaned. One or more attachments may be provided to use on the end of the hose to clean different types of surfaces.
The hose is also used to pull the vacuum cleaner along the floor. In that connection, the vacuum cleaner is usually provided with wheels. The wheel closest to the front (the end at which the hose is attached) is usually part of a caster that allows steering of the direction of the wheel, so that the vacuum cleaner more easily follows the direction in which it is pulled by the hose. However, the rear wheels are usually adjacent the opposite end, forming a long wheelbase that makes it difficult to maneuver the vacuum cleaner in tight spaces--e.g., vestibules and staircase landings, and around furniture.
It is known to provide a switch for the vacuum cleaner on a handle at the end of the hose, so that the user can turn the vacuum cleaner on or off without having to return to the canister body. The switch may be the only switch, or may be an auxiliary switch, with another switch on the canister. Appropriate conductors in the hose are connected by appropriate connectors in the hose end to mating connectors in the suction port.
It is also known to provide exhaust ports, or "blowports," on canister vacuum cleaners, to which the hose can be attached when a source of positive air pressure is needed. Such a blowport can also be used in some cases to clear a blocked hose. However, on vacuum cleaners in which the switch is in the hose handle, there has not heretofore been provided a blowport having the necessary electrical connections to allow the vacuum cleaner to be controlled by the hose handle switch. In a vacuum cleaner in which the only switch is in the handle, that has meant that such vacuum cleaners could not have useful blowports (i.e., blowports to which hoses could be attached).
Vacuum cleaners have traditionally been relatively noisy. It has been known to provide alternate airflow paths (with an appropriate diverter valve), so that if a blowport (which is relatively narrow and thus increases noise) is not being used, the exhaust air is directed to a larger exhaust vent that allows the air to diffuse and reduces the noise produced. However, the ability to provide sufficiently large vents is limited by the fact that the airflow path is almost always substantially linear, extending from the suction opening to the blower and beyond the blower to the exhaust port or vent. Thus only the area behind the blower (on the far side of the blower from the suction port) has been available for the blowport and the exhaust vent, limiting the size of the vent.
Thus, it would be desirable to be able to increase the size of a vacuum cleaner exhaust vent, thereby decreasing the volume of the noise produced by the vacuum cleaner.
It would also be desirable to be able to provide a blowport with electrical connections so that a switch on the hose can be used to control the vacuum cleaner when the hose is connected to the blowport.
It would further be desirable to be able to provide a vacuum cleaner having a reduced wheelbase for greater maneuverability.